CHAPTER 3
From the hallway outside, the heavy thud of tactical boots echoed against the polished marble floor of the penthouse corridor.
Daniel walked through the door, flanked by two burly men in suits wearing earpieces, his Tom Ford jacket unbuttoned and his face dark with fury.
He didn't look like the loving husband who had held my hand in the ICU seventeen years ago; he looked like a ruthless corporate predator handling an inconvenient leak.
"I gave you seventeen years of a comfortable, gilded life, Caroline," Daniel said coldly, stepping into the living room and looking down at the dirt on the floor. "You had a two-million-dollar condo, unlimited credit cards, and luxury vacations. You should have just left the damn tree alone."
"Where is she, Daniel?!" I demanded, stepping forward despite the armed men standing beside him. "Where is Sophie?!"
"She isn't your daughter anymore," Daniel snapped, his blue eyes flashing with a dangerous, lethal intensity. "The Whitakers paid three million dollars for her legal adoption rights through Dr. Pike's network. That paper trail is sealed."
"It wasn't an adoption! It was human trafficking!" I shouted, clutching my phone tightly behind my back. "And I have Nurse Miriam's confession on tape!"
Daniel let out a harsh, bitter laugh, taking a slow step toward me while gesturing for his security guards to surround the room.
"Miriam Foster died in a hospice care facility in Spokane six hours ago, Caroline," Daniel revealed with a chilling smile. "That video is useless without a living witness to verify its authenticity in court."
My blood ran cold as the horror of his words sank in.
They hadn't just faked my baby's death seventeen years ago; they were actively cleaning up every remaining loose end to protect their high-society network.
May you like
"Hand over the laptop and the flash drive, Caroline," Daniel ordered softly, extending his hand toward me. "And maybe we can settle this quietly without making things unpleasant."
"Never," I whispered, unlocking my phone behind my back and hitting the speed-dial button for the Seattle Police Department.
